New plan might allow downloads to all Apple devices to be linked to one iTunes account (Source: itrooper.com)

A new service plan could allow iTunes customers to permanently backup music they purchased, and link downloads to multiple devices like the iPod, iPad and iPhone on one iTunes account

Apple's recent
discussions with record companies may soon allow iTunes customers to
use the music they've purchased more flexibly across several devices.

Apple
first started selling music through iTunes in 2003. Its popularity skyrocketed,
claiming the title of top U.S. music retailer in 2008 and possessed 69 percent
of all digital downloads in the U.S. that September. Music companies, on the
other hand, have had problems with declining compact disc sales in recent
years. In 2010 alone, total album sales dropped 12.7 percent while digital
track sales rose 1 percent.

The new plan would allow iTunes customers to
permanently backup music they purchased in the event that the original versions
are lost or damaged. In addition, downloads to multiple devices like the iPod,
iPad and iPhone could all be linked to one iTunes account, which provides universal
access to centrally stored content on the internet.

Apple and
the record companies decided to come together in an effort to "maintain
demand for digital downloading" and to compete with internet services like
Pandora Media Inc., which allows users to stream songs from the internet on
multiple devices instead of selling individual tracks.

Tom
Neumayr, spokesman for Cupertino, California-based Apple, and other
spokespeople like Amanda Collins at Warner Music in New York and Liz Young from
Sony Music have declined to comment on the negotiations between Apple and the
record companies. An announcement is expected by midyear.

In other
news, Apple is also looking to revamp its MobileMe service, which is a
subscription-based collection of software and online services. One of the new
plans would offer the normally $99 MobileMe service for free, allowing users to
store various types of content like e-mail, contacts and photos on Apple's
servers.

Changes
to both the MobileMe and iTunes services will be accommodated by a new $1
billion data center in North Carolina, which will be a "hub"
specifically for these Apple services.

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